Kaffee said he has had to fill up the generator only three times over 13,700 miles, with a total of 30.2 gallons of gas.

 

"The wave of the future is here," said Kaffee, who noted that he will probably buy his wife a Volt in another year or two.

 

Kaffee said he appreciates electric cars both because they have less of a negative impact on the environment than traditional cars and because they don't funnel American dollars into unstable, oil-producing regimes. 

 

Sales of electric cars have fallen short of what enthusiasts had hoped for, including President Obama, who predicted a million would be on the road by 2015. 

 

GM said it sold 23,461 Volts in 2012, and while Volt sales are up 8.4 percent in the first quarter of this year, the company also admitted in a statement that a recent study showed "drivers are only marginally aware of electric vehicles."